Halo: A New Beginning
by Blacksmith99
Summary: A new beginning to the Halo's story. Where Master Chief faces the threat of the Covenant, the terrible Flood and the mysterious Halo. Humanity will never be the same. It is complete now!
1. Chapter 1- Pillar of Autumn

Chapter 1- Pillar of autumn

-Did we lose them?

A Space Cruiser gets out of a slip-space hole. The crew of this human cruiser thinks that they're safe. Suddenly, two Covenant cruiser shows up in the same slip-space hole before it closes. They hold the human cruiser from running away and they create a bridge to take their troops inside the human cruiser. Despair takes control of the human cruiser known as Pillar of Autumn. In the control room of the Pillar of Autumn, Captain Keyes tries to find a way out with the AI known as Cortana:

-Cortana, what options do we have now?

-Let me see… a slip-space jump would be suicidal and sending our recruits to the battle would also be suicidal. I've already activated the M-12 Cannons, but they aren't helping at all. There is… him.

-Master Chief. I'm sending a soldier to wake him up. Cortana, you know that he's not the same since-

-Reach, I know. But he is the only one who can save the recruits, take them out of the Cruiser and land on Arkansas.

-Mendoza, go to Cryo 2 and wake Chief up.

-Sir, yes sir.

Mendoza grabs a pistol and start running through the spaceship. There is Elites, Jackals, Grunts and even Hunters in the cruiser. Mendoza, gets shot with a plasma gun in his right arm, but he doesn't stop running. He finally gets to Cryo 2 and he sees Master Chief pod. There is a button in the middle of the pod, he press it and the pod starts opening. A little bit confuse, Master Chief gets out of the pod and get the pistol from the Marine and says:

-I'll go first. Where do we have to go?

-Master Chief, Sir, we need to go to the Control Room and meet with Captain Keyes, he said that he needs you and it is urgent.

Master Chief opens the Cryo 2 door and gets shot by a Grunt. The Grunt also kills Mendoza. Chief kicks the Grunt so hard that he flies away. A plasma grenade blows up in front of Chief, but his shield regenerator saves him from dying. Chief run through the cruiser, killing every Covenant that stands in his way.

He finally gets to the Control Room, where Captain Keyes is waiting him patiently:

-Master Chief good to see you. - Keyes shakes hands with Chief- You know that we are passing through a hard moment right now and I have a mission to you Chief. You need to take the recruits out of this Cruiser. Also, you need to take Cortana with you out of this ship, she is too important to be left behind. I'll activate Protocol Cole now Chief, good luck.

Chief put Cortana in a memory disk and connect her to his armor. He grabs an assault rifle and goes to the fight. Cortana asks Chief:  
-John? Is that your real name?

-My real name is John-117. Now stop asking and give me answers. Where the recruits are hidden?

-They're hiding in the arsenal center, there are two hunters over there! They won't hold much longer there, John, you have to save them.

Chief stands in front of the door of the arsenal center, he starts thinking in a plan, Cortana look into his mind to see what is the plan and she says:

-No, John… this is madness!

-Madness? Don't underestimate me.

He opens the door and he runs into the first Hunter, which is trying to knock down the door where the recruits are hidden. He pulls out a grenade and throws into the Hunter's back. Chief sees an energy sword next to the second Hunter. The first Hunter blows up and the second tries to hit Chief with his shield, but Chief quickly dodge and get the energy sword. He immediately throws the energy sword into the head of the second Hunter. The Hunter dies and Chief says:

-Recruits, the Hunter is dead, you can get out of your hidden spot. We're leaving this ship.

All the recruits are crying and afraid of the Covenant. They grab as many weapons as they can and leave the room. Cortana screams in Chief's head, and he asks:  
-Cortana, are you alright?

-I don't know… I was looking into the camera files and there was an Elite and a human fighting together to fight something in the Cruiser, both were terrified and afraid of this thing. Then, this thing showed up and destroyed the camera, I couldn't clearly see it. We have to get these recruits out of here, now!

Chief lead the recruits to the spaceship port, there is only one pelican left. There are a lot of Covenant troops around that Pelican. Chief look to the recruits and whisper to all of them:

-Shoot when I shout "Fire".

Everyone agrees and they stay one level up the floor waiting for the signal. Chief run next to the Covenant troops and start shooting them, in order to draw attention. Chief hide behind a weapon crate and he shouts:  
-FIRE!

All the recruits start shooting, killing what's left of the Covenant troop. All the recruits go down to the floor and get in the pelican. Cortana contact Captain Keyes:

-Keyes, are you out of the Pillar of Autumn?

-No, Cortana, I'm inside the cruiser.

-What are you doing there? Are you crazy?

-I'm doing what I have to do. Goodbye, Cortana.

-KEYES! NO!

The Pillar of Autumn blows up, but its explosion was so devastating, that destroyed one of the Covenant cruiser and damaged the other Covenant cruiser. The second cruiser collapsed in Arkansas, where all the human pelicans and life-pods where heading to. That means that the fight wasn't over yet. Cortana starts talking:

-Why would Keyes blow up the Cruiser? Something isn't right. Covenant and human fighting side by side against something else, Keyes blowing up the Cruiser…

Chief lands in the planet with the recruits, grab some ammo to his assault rifle and some ammo to his pistol. A recruit asks Chief:

-Sir, do you think that a bunch of recruits can make it to the nearest UNSC base?

-Now you are recruits. By the time you leave this pelican, you'll all become Marines. Are you ready, Marines?

Everyone smiles a little bit and they shout:

-SIR, YES SIR!


	2. Chapter 2- Arkansas

Chapter 2- Arkansas.

The pelican door slowly opens, everyone waits patiently. Chief warns the recruits:

-The Covenant is not an easy enemy, we will run through a battle field. I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee everyone's safety. Good luck.

Chief is the first one to step out of the pelican. There are Marines and Covenant fighting against each other. Cortana start talking:

-Well, this place remember me the African plains… Let's focus on the objective, there is a UNSC Communication Post some minutes from here. After this situation is finished, you can leave me at the Communication Post, I'll be safe there.

Master Chief looks to the damaged Covenant cruiser, in his left. The cruiser is huge, that explains the huge amount of enemies. He starts running and shooting every single Covenant in front of him. He runs to an abandoned Wraith and hides behind it. Chief can't see the recruits anymore. Cortana send a message to the Communication Post:

-This is Cortana to Arkansas Communication Post, do you copy?

-Cortana, this is Arkansas Communication Post, we can hear you. What's your position, over?

-I'm sending my coordinates to you, I have Master Chief with me. I repeat, I have Master Chief with me.

-You're not far away, we can't send air support. Come to the post and we can figure a way out of here, the situation is almost controlled, there is nothing to worry about.

Chief stand up and start walking and shooting. He and the rest of the Marines kill what's left of those Covenant troops and follow up to the Communication post. This Communication post looks like any other UNSC Communication post. This one is a little bit bigger than the usual ones. Because of the victory, there is a celebration going on. When Chief comes through the main entrance, everyone stops celebrating and look at him, everyone surprised and thinking to themselves "It is one of the survivors from Reach!"

-Master Chief! - Chief looks to the bald guy with a white uniform- Please, come to the reunion room, we have things to discuss.

Chief follows this bald guy to the reunion room. In this room, he also meets two other people:

-Please, Chief let me introduce myself. My name is Captain Lasky, I'm the Captain of the famous Arkansas cruiser: Infinity; This woman in my right is Diana Lovegood, she is the head behind this Communication post, and that man in my left is-

-Sergeant Avery Johnson, nice to meet ya, Master Chief.

Captain Lasky take a deep breath and start talking:

-Chief, there are some things you should know. First of all, you're not the last Spartan alive. Let me introduce you Ender- a Spartan comes through the door, his helmet remember an ODST helmet- he used to be the last Spartan alive. Now we have you. There is more, unfortunately, Group C from Reach survived, but they changed sides.

Both Cortana and Chief are surprised, Cortana asks:  
\- What do you mean by, changed sides?

Diana answers for Lasky:  
\- We don't know what really happened. They are looking for cruisers on Earth. They have unidentified weapons, their guns are not Covenant or Human. Group C is seeking something they call Halo. We must take you to Earth and try to stop them from finding a way to this… Halo.

Lasky hold Diana's hand and start talking:

-Chief and Cortana, both of you know that we had a big loss today. Captain Keyes and the Pillar of autumn. Keyes sacrificed himself because he wanted to terminate something that was inside that ship, a parasite, something horri-

They hear a loud scream coming from outside:  
-HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE!

Everyone stands up and pull their guns out. Chief and Ender go first. They open the door and the atmosphere is different outside. The atmosphere is equal to the atmosphere of a place where a volcano exploded. Ashes of fire and a dark atmosphere. Some lights can be seen, but not clearly.  
-Everyone, stay close. - says Ender

They made a circle, everyone is looking somewhere. They start walking through a closed bridge with a lot of windows, but they can't see a lot of what is outside. Suddenly, something hits Diana's face, a little monster. Before anyone can shoot, this monster enters inside her mouth. She starts turning into something. Yellow bubbles and yellow fungus starts appearing on her face and on her body. She becomes a human-sized monster. Both Chief and Ender start shooting it, but it doesn't die. Lasky shoots in her head, finally killing it. In the end of this bridge, a lot of this little-sized monsters appears. Johnson shouts:

-For Christ's sake! There is a lot of them

-It's a Flood. – says Ender.

\- Flood. That's a pretty name for a pretty monster. – says Johnson.

Ender, Chief, Lasky and Johnson start shooting this little monsters. After all of them are dead, they get out of this bridge and stealthily go to the Pelican Hangar. In the Hangar, there are hundreds of little-sized Flood and there is a lot of human-sized Flood. Something surprises them all, there are infected Covenant as well. No one tried to escape, probably because no one survived to this parasite. Cortana says something she thinks that is important:

-Keyes… he died trying to stop this. The Covenant and human fighting side by side, they were fighting this! There is nothing about this parasite on the UNSC data, not even in the classified data. Keyes saw everything this thing was doing to the other Marines and to the Covenant, and he tried to destroy it. I'm sure this Flood came from the damaged Covenant cruiser. There is a lot of Pelicans in this Hangar.

-The Pelican is not the problem, Cortana. There is no way, if we want to get in, we need to kill all of them. – says Lasky.

-We don't have enough ammo- says Chief.

\- Well, we can't hug those monsters and ask nicely to them if they can please let us go without trying to kill us, so what's the plan? – asks Johnson.

\- That's the problem. – says Lasky.

Suddenly, they hear the sound of grenades blowing up and guns being shot. All the Flood follow this sound. Now the hangar is clear of Flood:

-Go. Go. Go. – says Ender.

All of them get aboard the first Pelican they see. When the Pelican start running, the engine makes a big explosion noise, and it stops working:

-Oh no. Hell no. I need cover to fix this engine. – says Johnson

-I'll give you cover. – says Chief

They get out of the Pelican and see lots of little-sized Flood and Infected Flood. Johnson starts fixing the engine and Chief starts shooting everything. An Infected Elite knocks Chief to the ground. All the other infected ones jump on Chief and start beating him up to death. One of the infected pulls Johnson to this circle of death. But, for their luck, a bunch of Marines show up and starts shooting them. Chief is able to get up and keep killing the Flood. Johnson says:

-Ok, Fixed it. Let's get the hell out of here.

Everyone gets in the Pelican and before any Flood could get in, they close the Pelican's door. Chief realizes that those Marines were the same recruits that Chief escorted to Arkansas, he says:

-Thank you, Marines.

-This was our retribution for taking us out of the Pillar of Autumn.

-Where's the rest?

-They didn't make it, Sir.

The Pelican starts working and they all get out of the Communication Post. Chief asks:

-There is no planet close from here, we would need a cruiser to go to Earth. So where are we going?

-We are going to the UNSC Arkansas Military Capital: Levely. There, we can find a cruiser to take us to Earth and to stop Group C. – answers Lasky.

Chief realizes that something is worrying Cortana, he asks her:

-What is concerning you?

\- The Flood… obviously it is not a Covenant creation, otherwise it would only attack humans. Where did they come from? How they got inside that Covenant cruiser. The Covenant found something. Something horrible. Something…destructive.


	3. Chapter 3- Hunt the Truth

Chapter 3- Hunt the Truth

-Were just some miles from Levely. I received a message from Lord Terrence Hood, I'm going to play it now. – says Lasky.

"Levely is being attacked! The Covenant, they discovered Arkansas. We need backup right now. I'm sending this message to all the UNSC personnel nearby."

Everyone start reloading their weapons and checking their ammo. Johnson lands the Pelican inside a paper factory. The Pelican's door opens, everyone gets out of it. Lasky starts talking:

-Ok everyone, here's the plan: we'll have to split up. Chief and Ender, you'll find Lord Hood. Me, Johnson and the Marines will look for more Marines and try to fight against The Covenant.

-I Think this plan is alright- says Cortana.

-Let's go Marines. Good luck, Spartans. – says Johnson

Chief and Ender get out of the paper factory and find themselves next to a Warthog. Ender says:

-Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?

Chief goes to the front seat, while Ender goes in the back as the gunner. Ender starts talking about his past missions:

-Before I was a Spartan, I used to be an ODST. There was this time, as an ODST, that my squad found a Warthog. I obviously went in the gunner seat. We killed a lot of Insurrectionists bastards. Then, I got shot in the chest. My squad died by a rocket launcher. When another ODST squad found me lying in the ground, they took me to the nearest hospital. There, Halsey picked me up and transformed me in a Spartan, like you. Good times, before we even knew that the Covenant existed.

Chief finally turned the Warthog on and started driving through the streets. Levely remembers a lot of New Mombasa. The buildings, the streets, the atmosphere, Levely is Arkansas's New Mombasa. The streets are empty, there are damaged cars, human dead bodies and Covenant dead bodies. Chief and Ender follow up to the UNSC Central Base, where Lord Hood should be.

In the middle of their journey, they are hit by a Plasma cannon. The Warthog is destroyed, there is no time for fixing. A Covenant troop formed by 5 Elites, 3 Grunts, 4 Jackals and 2 Hunters, surround Chief and Ender. Ender says with a sarcastic voice:

-Who should I shoot? The ugly one or the ugly one?

Both them throw grenades and starts shooting. Chief says:

-I'll get the Hunters, you take care of the rest.

-Sir yes, Sir.

Chief jumps towards the first Hunter, he grabs his head. The second Hunter tries to do something and shoots the back of the first Hunter, killing it. Chief grabs his assault rifle and starts shooting the second Hunter's head. The Hunter protects his head with his shield and also attacks Chief with this same shield. Chief takes a plasma grenade, jump towards the Hunter's head and plant it on him. Chief runs away and the Hunter blows up. When he looks to Ender, he is fighting 2 Elites with an energy sword. Chief grabs an energy sword as well and start fighting the second Elite. Ender stab the first Elite in the chest and Chief cuts the second Elite's head. Both of them keep walking through the city. In a moment, when they are walking through an alley, something grabs Chief's leg. He gets his pistol, and shoot what's grabbing his leg. When he looks to see what it is, he immediately warns Ender:

-Hey Ender, we've got company

Ender looks to the ground and see a little-sized flood. He says:

-We have to go faster, if we still want to get out of here alive.

They finally get in front of the UNSC Central Base, but there is a war going on over there. The Marines on one side and the Covenant on the other.

-Chief! Ender! At last! Thank god you are alive. – says Lasky.

-Captain, we have tracked Lord Hood's signal, he is on that base, and we have to get in there. – says Cortana

\- I'm sorry Cortana, but this is impossible. There is too many of them we can't do it.

-There is Flood coming, we don't have much time… I have a plan. – says Chief

There is one street, the left side is covered by Marines, and the right side is covered by Covenant. Chief and Ender go to the sewers. They go to the right side of the street, in the sewer, and plant bombs there. They get away from there and they activate the detonator. The Covenant blows up, some Elites survived, but they were killed by the Marines. Chief and Ender go up in the street and say:

-We have to find Lord Hood, now! The Flood is coming, we have to get out of here as quick as we can!

They get in the Control Base and right in the main hall they find something horrible. Lord Hood and other UNSC Leaders are being tortured by the Covenant. The torturers look to Chief, Ender, Lasky, Johnson and the other Marines. There is 6 Elites, 5 of them have an energy sword and the one of the middle, the bigger one, the leader, have no weapon. Chief says:

-Leave the big one to me.

The Elites shout and run to the Marines. They start to fight. Chief runs to the bigger one, which punches Chief right in the face. He stands up and kick the knee of the Leader, then Chief kneed the Leader in the face. Chief waits the Elite opens his mouth and he puts his arm inside the Leader's head, killing it. The other Elites are dead. All the Marines rescue the UNSC leaders, including Lord Hood. Lasky says:

-We need a cruiser to get out of here, now! We don't have much time. Lord Hood, where do we find a cruiser here in Levely?

-In the Arkansas UNSC Spaceship Port of course.

At the Central Base they find some Transport Warthogs, and use them to get at the Spaceship Port. The day is becoming night, what before was the sound of plasma guns, now is the sound of little-sized Flood walking through the city. The Covenant just disappeared, only their bodies. Levely is almost completely destroyed, the buildings are on fire and some of them are already destroyed. When they get to the Spaceship Port, they see lots of Marines getting in the last cruiser. The Warthogs get in the cruiser and everyone feels relieved. The door closes and the cruiser start working. Lord Hood, Chief, Ender and Lasky go to the control room. Chief asks:

-Lord Hood, where are we going?

-Chief, I know about your mission, so I took the liberty of changing our destination to Novalight. I heard that they have been spotted there. I'll leave you and Ender over there. It will take some hours till we get there. Get some rest, you fought a lot. Leave Cortana with us now, she will be a great company for us.

Chief gets the disk out of his helmet and give to Lord Hood. He gets out of the control room and try to find a bedroom. He passes in front of the loading area and hears a noise. He grabs his pistol and go check it out. It's a large room, with bright white lights. He doesn't see anything. But suddenly, all the lights of the ship turns off. Chief turns on his lantern and look again to the room, but this time, he see waves of little-sized Flood. Chief immediately closes the loading area's door. He sends a message to Lord Hood:

-Sir, there is Flood on this spaceship, use the slip-space, now!

-I'm working on it, Chief.

Chief sees little-sized Flood killing the Marines behind him. He grabs a shotgun from a dead Marine and start shooting the infected and the little-sized Flood. Chief falls in the ground, because Lord Hood activated the slip-space jump. When the slip-space travel ends, Chief stand up and keep killing the Flood. He runs to the Marines bedroom. When he get there, he shouts:

-Marines, wake up! We have hostile contact on this ship. Grab your weapons and find an escape pod.

All the Marines wake up, including Johnson and Ender. They follow Chief to the control room, where everyone is desperate, Lord Hood looks to Chief and say:

-Son, we have to abandon this cruiser, otherwise, we will die. This cruiser will blow up in some minutes, we have to find an escape pod. Chief, take Cortana with you. I and Lasky are just behind you.

Chief connects Cortana to his armor once again. She says:

-I don't know if you missed me, but I definitely missed you.

They get out of the control room and darkness took control of the cruiser. Silence makes this even worse. When everyone turns on their lantern, they see lots of infected Flood in front of them. Chief, Ender, Johnson, Lasky and Lord Hood starts shooting the infected. They kill some of them and run to the escape pods section. There, there is only 4 individual escape pods. Little-sized Flood enters Lasky's mouth and turn him into an infected. Johnson kills the infected Lasky with his pistol. Everyone that stills alive, enter in the escape pod and launch out of there. While they are falling to Novalight, they can see the cruiser blowing up. A piece of the cruiser hits Master Chief's escape pod, making him change his course. Ender's escape pod is also hit, changing his course as well.

Chief and Ender fall inside a UNSC Base. When they get out of their pods, they see dead bodies all over the place. They walk a little bit through the base and Cortana says:  
-Chief, I'm tracking Spartan signals in this base, you two are not the only Spartans over here!

-Why would Group C come to this base? – asks Ender

-The teleporter… Group C is here for the teleporter! We have to stop them! – says Chief

\- Teleporter? What are you talking about? – asks Ender

-There is a teleporter over here, a cancelled project, it consumed too much energy. Like Reach's destruction ray. If they use the teleporter, Novalight won't have energy for months. We have to find them.

Chief and Ender run to the teleporter area. When they get there, they see Group C, which is formed by 6 Spartans: Locki, a modified Spartan that can run faster than a cheetah; Diana, she is the mind of the group, the smartest one; Jackson, a giant Spartan, his armor is super resistant, but he is way too slow; Nova, a Spartan specialized in Covenant infantry; Damian, a Spartan specialized in transport infantry; Sam, the leader of the group, he have a yellow energy sword, it is bigger than the usual ones, he is agile and his suit is resistant.

Chief and Ender enter through the door and point their weapons at Group C, which is standing in the teleporter, but the teleporter is not activated. Group C has strange weapons, it is not Covenant, and it is not human. Chief realizes that he has no bullets in his gun. Ender says:

-Stop right there Group C! You are under arrest!

-No Ender. We are free, and you are being manipulated by the UNSC. You have no salvation, then, you shall DIE!

All the members of the Group C shoot their guns in Ender, until he is dead.

-ENDER! NO! – shouts Chief, that immediately run and check Ender's body.

Before anyone from the Group C could shoot Chief, Sam stops them and say:

-He still can be saved.

Sam's helmet is almost made completely of glass, but it is a resistant glass. He wears a black cape. Sam comes closer to Chief and say:

-He had no salvation, UNSC manipulated him.

Chief stands up and ask Ender:

-This weapons… they aren't human or Covenant. What are they?

-These are the weapons of our creators.

-Forerunner weapons… how did you get them?

-The ring of salvation gave to us. He showed us the way to find the key to salvation, but we need you Chief, you will bring the door lock, and we will use the key. Here Chief, take this.

Sam gives a video recorder to Chief and says:

-Hunt the truth, Chief. When you see the information of this video recorder, you will see that we were right. After listening it, come to the Halo, join us, and save the universe.

-Never. – says Chief

Chief punches Sam in the face and run to grab a regular energy sword. He says:

-I'll never join you, bastard.

Chief tries to stab Sam in the chest, but Sam blocks his attack with the yellow energy sword. Sam kicks Chief's face, but Chief don't fall in the ground. Sam says:

-It wasn't the Covenant that killed your group. It was us.

\- You son of a…

Chief tries to cut Sam's head, but again, Sam blocks it. Sam punches Chief on the face and say:

-Group B begged for mercy… begged, like a bunch of dogs.

Chief tries to attack Sam, but Sam blocks it and disarm him. Sam kicks Chief's head, making Chief fall in the ground, making him faint. Sam says:

-You got balls, Chief. More than your group, I would say.

He gets in the teleporter and activate it. Chief is a little dazed and confused, but he can understand what Sam says:

-The video recorder also have my coordinates, if you still want to find me and "stop me". After you listen to it, you'll understand why we hate you humans.

A bunch of ODST's, Lord Hood and Johnson reach at the teleporter room, but it it's too late. They use the teleporter and the energy is drained. Chief stands up and say to Lord Hood:

-Let's find this Halo.


	4. Chapter 4- Halo

Chapter 4 – Halo

Johnson wears his finest smoking, for a sad occasion. It's a big plain, there is a lot of people next to a tree, but it's not a normal tree, it is a tree with golden leaves, typical of Novalight. Chief, Lord Hood and a lot of Marines, everyone is there. Johnson carries his candle, like all the other people next to this monument. Nobody say a thing, everyone leaves their candle next to the tree and leave. The sunset in the background makes it even sadder. Chief is not wearing a smoking and he doesn't have a candle with him. Johnson sees that Chief does not have a candle and says:

-Aren't you going to pay any tribute to your dead friend?

-He is not dead.

-What makes you believe he isn't?

-Spartans never die.

Johnson understands what Chief meant with that and just look away, ashamed of what he said. He doesn't realizes that Chief has Ender's helmet with him. Chief leaves the helmet next to the tree and leave. Johnson is the last one next to tree, he leaves his candle and look again to tree. The pictures of everyone who died during this time is there, Keyes, Lovegood, Lasky, Ender, and the list continues. Johnson goes away crying.

Chief go to the UNSC Base, there he go to his room and start listening to the video recorder. In the video, Lord Hood shows up and starts talking:

"John, by the time you listen to this, I'll be dead. There are some things that need to be clarified. It wasn't the Covenant that started all of this, it was us. A long time ago, we tried to colonize a Covenant planet, but we didn't know that it was a Covenant planet, hell, we didn't even know that the Covenant existed. We started killing every plant species, only to benefit our other colonies. Suddenly, they showed up, killing everyone, Elites using their plasma guns to kills us. We weren't prepared for that. The Covenant slaughtered us, 5 Marines survived and ran away from there, and I'm one of those Marines. Later, that planet was uninhabitable for us and for the Covenant. As a payback, they destroyed Harvest. We thought that this was over, that this was their payback, but it wasn't. Their prophets told them to kill us, that we were the scum of the galaxy. Chief, by now, you must be angry, really angry, but we didn't know. I'm sorry you had to hear this, Chief, hope you understand. Lord Hood, out. "

Both Chief and Cortana are surprised, even Cortana didn't know that. Chief stands up and gets out his bedroom, angry, Cortana says:

-Chief, I know you are angry, so am I, but…don't do anything crazy.

He sees Lord Hood next to the Communication room, he is talking with a lot of superior UNSC personnel. Chief runs to Lord Hood and grab his neck. Chief holds his neck strong and raise him up, Lord Hood is trying to resist, but Chief is too strong. Chief looks Lord Hood in the eyes and say:

-How could you hide this from all of us?

-What…are you…talking…about?

\- I know that we started the Covenant war.

-How?

-I've found the video recorder.

-Chief… we… didn't know.

-That doesn't matter! You killed harmless species for OUR benefit.

-We…were stupid…at the time. We just…wanted…to find…other planets….to live…in. Forgive…me.

-If wasn't your expansionist greed, Harvest wouldn't have been destroyed. Reach wouldn't have been destroyed. You are a monster, you don't deserve this life you have.

Chief prepares himself to punch Lord Hood in the face, killing him. Lord Hood closes his eyes afraid of what Chief was going to do with him. Before Chief punches Lord Hood, he remembers something. Chief remembers Sam saying:

"When you see the information of this video recorder, you will see that we were right. After you listen to it, you'll understand why we hate you humans."

Chief releases Lord Hood and go away. Lord Hood falls in the ground, breathing a lot. The UNSC personnel helps Lord Hood to stand up, he goes to the infirmary. Chief walk through the base and find Johnson, Chief says:

-Prepare your men. We're leaving today.

-Chief, let our men rest a little bit. They're tired.

-Ok, but tomorrow we leave, no exceptions.

-Hey Chief, are you alright? I heard that you fought against Lord Hood, what happened?

-Lord Hood is a filthy liar, he lied to everyone.

-Chief, I don't want to know what you discovered. But… whatever it is, do not tell anybody.

-Why?

-I'm sure as hell that it is something bad that we did. If you start telling everyone, people are going to rebel and it will be easier to the Covenant to wipe our asses out of this galaxy.

-I understand. I'm not going to tell anyone.

-You're doing the right thing, believe me, there are some things that we shouldn't know at all.

Johnson leaves and go to sleep. Chief goes to his bedroom, but he can't stop thinking about what he saw. He says to Cortana:

-I can't do what Johnson want me to do. I have to tell everyone about, I'm being as bad as Lord Hood.

-John, Johnson is right. When the time is right, when this is over, you can tell everyone. If you tell them now, everything that Johnson said will happen. People will be just like you now, they will not be conformed to this, and they will rebel against the government.

-I guess you're right, Cortana. I just can't forget what he said on that video.

-I know. I can see everything that you think.

Chief takes his armor off and sleep. In the next day, Chief wakes up when he hear Johnson shouting in the hall:

-Wake up, ladies! We have work to do!

Chief puts his armor on and listen to video recorder once more time. In the end, a series of numbers shows up, Chief take notes of all of them. He goes to the cafeteria and lunch alone. After all of this, he goes to the hangar and enters a cruiser called SS Normandy. Johnson see Chief coming and say:

-It is definitely better going today, if we went tonight, we wouldn't see anything, there is no energy. At day, at least the sun helped us to turn on the cruiser's light.

Chief enters the cruiser and wait everyone to come in. Suddenly, Lord Hood show up and start talking to Chief:

-Chief… I'm really sorry.

-Sorry won't bring Harvest and Reach back

-Do you think that I like it? I suffer every day, knowing that I'm responsible for the death of millions of people. I don't like hiding this from everyone. When all of this is over, I'm going to tell the truth and give up my post. I would love to tell this to anyone, but this is a period of war, people are afraid, they are fragile mentally. Revealing this would make people go crazy, we would lose lots of soldiers. The Covenant would win the war, and the human race would be terminated. I hope you understand me. I don't want to be your enemy.

Lord Hood raises his hand and say:

-Are we understood?

Chief shakes hands with Lord Hood and say:

-We are understood. Here are the coordinates to the Halo.

Chief gives a piece of paper to Lord Hood, and he say:

-Thank you, Chief. I'm glad that we are understood.

The cruiser turns on and they get out of Novalight. While they travel to the destination, Cortana asks Chief:

-Why did you forgive him?

-Because he was right, you were right and Johnson was right. People are fragile right now, after Harvest and Reach, they lost their hopes, telling this to them was only going to make things worse. Group C didn't understand that, so they rebelled against everyone.

Before Cortana could say anything, the alarm starts ringing and they hear a message:

-WARNING! WARNING! We are under Covenant attack, everyone go to the hangar and get aboard on a Pelican.

Chief run to the hangar and through the window he sees a giant Covenant cruiser nearby. Chief sees Johnson shouting to his soldiers:

-MARINES! GET ABOARD THE PELICAN! LET'S GO, LADIES!

Chief runs and gets aboard Johnson's pelican. The pelican starts running and they fly away from the cruiser, they go directly to the giant ring, the Halo. Johnson looks to the Halo and say:

-Whoa, that's something you don't see every day.

Chief receives a message from Lord Hood:

"Chief, there are other pelicans going to the Halo, but I can't go, I must get the cruiser out of here. Goodbye, Chief, good luck on your mission."

SS Normandy makes a slip-space jump and gets out of there. The Covenant cruiser isn't fast enough to follow the SS Normandy. Johnson's pelican get in the Halo's atmosphere. They land on a forest, with different kinds of plants. Chief grabs an assault rifle and a pistol and they get out of the pelican. Everyone is surprised with this Halo, even Cortana, she says:

-Oh my… this is beautiful! This forest is so colorful! We can learn lots of things with this ring, why is the Covenant so interested in it?

-Maybe all this is a camouflage to something worse.

Covenant dropships surround Chief and the Marines, Cortana says:

-Covenant dropships nearby! We should leave now!

Everyone runs away from the Covenant dropships, but quickly, the Elites are in the ground and start looking for humans. They keep running, until they get close to a big plain, where they see lots of human bodies and an abandoned Warthog. There are lots of Covenant troops next to the Warthog, Chief hide behind a tree and say to the Marines:

-We have to get to that Warthog as fast as we can. Do anyone have a good plan?

-I do. – says a Marine

Chief runs to the opposite side to the Warthog and draw the attention of the Covenant troops, while the Marines start running the Warthog on. Johnson run over 5 Elites with the Warthog, saying "Sorry" every time he ran over an Elite. Chief runs and gets in the Warthog as quick as he can. Everyone is shooting the Covenant troops, but there is a lot of them. While they pass through the Covenant troops, shooting them, Chief complains:  
-Why a transport Warthog? Why not a missile Warthog?

-Do not complain, Chief. It could be worse, it could be a mongoose.

Two Covenant Grunts follow the Warthog with Ghosts. They shoot the Marines, but their armors protect them from dying. They can't kill the Ghosts drivers, because they are always dodging Chief's bullets. Johnson shouts to the Marines:

-Wraith up ahead.

-Oh no. – says Chief

-Chief… before you do anything, remember that I'm still on your armor. – says Cortana.

Chief stands up and runs to the Warthog's hood. He waits until Johnson gets near to the Wraith and jump on it. The gunner of the Wraith starts shooting Chief, which resists to the plasma shots and punch the Elite's face, making it faint. He plants a plasma grenade on the Wraith's driver seat and he jumps out of the Wraith. Chief starts shooting the Grunts, which are driving the Ghosts, while the Wraith blows up behind him. He kills both of the drivers and get back in the Warthog. They drive until they find a pelican landed and some Marines. Johnson stops the Warthog next to the pelican and say:

-Did any of those ugly monsters bothered you?

-No Covenant signs over here, Sir! We were about to get out of here and try to find someone. – says a Marine called Chips Dubbo

-Well, so I think this is a good place to stay. By tomorrow we go find more Marines.

-Do you have any kind of transport besides your pelican? – asks Chief

-Sir, my answer is yes and you're going to like what I have here. – says Dubbo

Dubbo takes a Hornet out of the Pelican and say:

-I know that behind this mask there is a happy face.

-Holy cow! How big is this pelican? – asks Johnson.

-Let's just say that it is big, really big.

-I don't want any Marines coming with me. – says Chief

-Are you sure? – asks both Johnson and Cortana

\- This is something I should do alone.

-Well, at least let me go. – says Cortana

Chief get aboard on the hornet and fly out of there. Cortana asks Chief:

-So… what are you going to do now?

\- Sam told me he have the door lock, that I'll bring the key and that I'll open the door of salvation.

-And you are going to bring him the key?

-Yes, but I'm not going to open the door of salvation.

-So what are you going to do?

-I'll lock the door and throw the key out. 


	5. Chapter 5- 343 Guilty Spark

Chapter 5- 343 Guilty Spark

-DIANA! You stupid fool. You gave Chief the wrong coordinates. Now we will need to find him! – says Sam

-Sorry, Sir. But I'm sure that I inserted the correct coordinates, something is wrong or I made a mistake.

-Be sorry won't make Chief find us. Locki and Damian, find Master Chief and bring him to me.

-Sir, yes Sir!

Elsewhere, Chief is driving the hornet through a snow storm, he can barely see. He hears an alarm sound and he discovers that his fuel is empty:

-Cortana, I'll need to stop here.

-Chief, aren't you listening to it?

-To what?

-Listen.

Chief can hear the sound of Banshees and the sound of guns. He runs straight forward and he sees a damaged pelican on the ground and some Marines trying to survive next to it. Chief comes closer to them and see a Banshee and Covenant troops on the other side, shooting the Marines. He says:

-Marines! Are you alright?

-Sir, thank god you're here! These Covenant troops are attacking us, he don't have enough ammo to kill them all.

-But I do.

Chief throws 2 grenades on the Covenant troops, killing almost all of them, less a bunch of Grunts, that immediately run away screaming. Chief grabs a plasma grenade and throws at the Banshee. A Marine impressed say, while the Banshee blows up behind him:

-Sir, thank you Sir. If wasn't for you, we would be dead by now. We're going to call for help. Do you want something?

\- Do you have a Warthog?

-No, Sir. But we have a mongoose.

-Damn…Ok, I'll use it.

Chief sits on the mongoose driver's seat and get out of there. The snowstorm gets weaker and now is better to see. He drives some miles and Cortana says:

-Chief, you're just some miles from the coordinates localization. Oh no! Wraiths up ahead.

In a big snow plain, there are several Wraiths waiting. Chief sees a dead human body with a rocket launcher next to it. He go as fast as he can with the mongoose, but one of the Wraiths shoot on Chief's mongoose. Chief is a little dizzy, the mongoose is destroyed and he runs to the rocket launcher. Suddenly, in front of the dead body, a Wraith show up. Chief start cooking a plasma grenade and Cortana say:

-Chief, this is your last grenade. Make it count.

Chief throws the grenade on the Wraith and quickly grab the rocket launcher. There is 4 Wraiths left. Chief shoot the one that is closest to him. When Chief is going to shoot the next one, he realizes that there was only one rocket on the rocket launcher. Chief sees a rocket behind him, he grabs it and reload the rocket launcher. Suddenly, the 3 last Wraiths just blow up. Chief is surprised with this, he sees a strange figure behind the destroyed Wraiths:

-Master Chief! Finally found you! The boss want you alive, but I can tell him that the Flood killed you.

Chief sees that it is Damian, one of the Group C's Spartan. He accidentally shoots Damian with the rocket launcher. Damian blows up and Cortana says:

-Chief! Why did you that!

-Butterfingers.

Chief leaves the empty rocket launcher in the ground and walks through the snow. Something surprises both Chief and Cortana, they see infected Covenant flood, but is far away. Cortana says:

-The Flood! What is it doing here?

-I don't know, but I know that they are going to make things worse for us.

Chiefs walks a little bit and he sees and Elite in the ground being attacked by little-sized Flood, the Elite shouts to Chief:

-DEMON! HELP ME! PLEASE!

Chief thinks a little bit and shoot the little-sized Flood. He sees an abandoned Ghost and enters in it. The Elite surprised ask:

-Why did you saved me, Demon? We are enemies, why would you do that?

-Because no one deserves dying that way…and by the way, my name is John, not Demon.

-And my name is Thel 'Vadam.

Chief starts running the Ghost and get out of there. The Elite looks to Chief from far away and say to himself:

-I owe you.

Chief finds a giant and weird structure, there is a big fight between Covenant and Flood over there. Cortana says:

-It's a Forerunner structure! What is a Forerunner structure doing in here? Wait a minute…this is it! This is where the coordinates lead to.

Chief shoots the infected Flood with the Ghost, helping the Covenant to kill them all. He quickly gets in this structure and he is in a giant hall, with a wide door in the ending of this hall. He start going through this hall with the Ghost when he hears a sound in the back. It is Locki. He shouts:  
-You bastard! You killed Damian, now I'll kill you!

-How do you know that?

-Our helmets have video recorders, we record everything through the helmets.

Chief turns his Ghost and shoot Locki's leg, he immediately fall in the ground. He screams in pain. Suddenly, little-sized Flood starts coming through the hall entrance. Locki isn't fast enough to get up and is eaten alive by the Flood, while he screams in extreme pain. Chief goes to the ending of this hall as quick as he can. He finds a panel activate it and the door opens. The door is wide, but the Ghost can't pass through it, for some reason. Chief enter inside this door and see a large room, with a holographic ball in the middle. They see a panel and Cortana says:

-Chief, insert me on this panel, I may be able to understand this place.

Chief connects Cortana to the panel and wait her to respond. While she does not respond, Chief hears a sound on the other side of the room. He goes check it and find a door leading to an exit, where he sees a strange flying robot making a singing noise. This flying robot turns around and says to Chief:

-A Reclaimer! At last! We have much to do. Come with me.

This robot gets closer to Chief and start teleporting him somewhere. He teleport Chief to a strange swamp, Chief points his assault rifle to this robot and ask:

-Where am I?

-At the Library.

-Who are you?

-I'm 343 Guilty Spark. I'm the Monitor of Installation 04.

-What are we doing here?

-Retrieving the Index to activate the Halo.

-Activate the Halo?

-Yes, we must activate this Halo to stop the infection of this parasite.

-Wait, so you're saying that this ring will kill the Flood?

-Flood? Is this how you call the parasite? If this is the way you call him, then yes, this ring will kill the Flood.

-So Group C wasn't wrong after all, this will bring salvation.

-Let's go, Reclaimer! Soon, the Flood will control the Library, we must stop them!

-Let's find this Index and terminate this parasite.


	6. Chapter 6- The Library

Chapter 6- The Library

Chief walks through this strange swamp, dead Covenant corpses floating in the water. He can hear Covenant screaming and shooting their plasma guns, but it is far away. He sees a broken pelican floating in the water. He gets close to it and does not find any dead human body. Chief says to himself:

-There is people in this place.

The Monitor sees that Chief is distracted with the pelican and say to him:  
-Reclaimer, we must hurry! We must get this Index before the parasite find us.

-Just give me a minute.

-The parasite will not give us a minute.

Chief turns around, ready to argue with the Monitor, but he sees an infected Covenant right behind the Monitor. He immediately shoots it, killing it. The Monitor, angry, says to Chief:

-Let's go, Reclaimer! We don't have time!

Chief follows the Monitor as fast as he can, he can hear little-sized Flood coming over them. They run until they reach in a weird structure. They enter in it and Chief asks:

-What is this place?

-This is the Library entrance, the Index is in the level 07

-Who created this place?

-The Forerunners, they also created this ring.

-So this ring is not natural? It is artificial?

-Yes, this ring is artificial. The Forerunners created it only to kill the parasite.

They walk a little bit and find a room filled with Elite blood. In the middle of this room there is a human body. Chief goes near to it and sees that it is a Marine body. Suddenly, the Marine holds Chief hands and say:

-Help…me. Those things…they…just ignored me.

-The Flood might have thought that you were dead. What happened? Where are the others?

-We were…fighting two Elites…one of them shot me and I fell on the ground. Then, I heard…those things…walking through me. The others…went through that door.

The Marine dies in Chief's hands. He lays the Marine's head on the ground and close his eyes. Chief and the Monitor walk through the door that the Marine talked about. They see a giant open elevator. Chief looks to the Monitor and asks:

-How many floors did you say there were?

-Seven floors to reach the Index. But we need to go through all the floors, activating the levers that each floor has.

-Why did they do that?

-Prevention. They didn't wanted the Flood to steal the Index.

Chief activate the elevator and goes to the first floor. There he sees an enormous hall. He starts running through it and see dead Covenant bodies and dead human bodies. The Monitor says:  
-The parasite didn't enter the Library yet, maybe the other life species outside attracted the parasite to themselves.

They reach the ending of the hall and see a strange lever. Chief pulls the lever down and hears an alarm noise. The next sound he hears after the alarm noise is the noise of a lot of little things moving to his way. In his way back to the elevator, a hand holds his leg, making him fall on the ground. An infected Elite climbs on top of Chief and starts strangling him. Suddenly, a different kind of flying robot appears and shoots the infected Elite with its laser. Chief asks:

-What is this?

-This is a Sentinel. He is designed to kill the parasite when he feels its presence.

They go as fast as they can to the elevator. They activate it again and they go to the second floor. There, they see two Marines fighting against the Flood. Those Marines see Chief and run next to it. They say:

-Sir! We need your help! The Flood…it's horrible, they killed our partners, help us, please.

-We apologize, but he cannot help you. He have an important mission that he cannot abandon. –says the Monitor

-Stay with me, Marines. After I finish what I've came for, I can take you to the nearest pelican.

-Thank you, Sir.

-With all due respect, but they cannot come with us, there can be only one Reclaimer, it is in my protocol. – say the Monitor

-Well, deal with it. They are coming with us and there's nothing you can do.

The Monitor's eye turn red and he prepares himself to shoot Chief with his laser, but he calms down and his eye turns blue. They start killing all the Flood on this hall, with the help of the Sentinel. They reach the end of the hall and Chief pulls the lever down. They look behind them and they see a different kind of infected. This one have a big head and is very slow. Chief shoots it, this thing fall on the ground and his head blows up. But from inside his head, comes a lot of little-sized Flood. They kill them all, but there are way too many infected Flood on their way back to the elevator. The Sentinels just disappear and the Marines are despaired:

-Sir, what are we going to do?

-I have an idea. Stay back.

Chief throws a grenade on the ground and run away. When the grenades blows up, they make a hole in the ground, Chief says:

-Jump in this hole, is the only way and we got to be quick.

Chief is the first to jump in the hole, he immediately pulls the lever of the third floor and go back to help the Marines to get down. When everyone is on the third floor, they run to the elevator area and call the elevator. They get on the elevator and go to the fourth floor. Chief says:

-Marines, stay on the elevator with the Monitor and wait for me.

-Sir, yes Sir!

Chief runs as quick as he can through the hall. When he reaches the end and pulls the lever, he looks back and see infected Flood coming for him. Chief sees that the infected Flood are holding guns now. There are infected Elite holding their plasma guns. Chief kills them all with what's left of his ammo and reach the elevator. In the elevator, one of the Marines is attacked by little-sized Flood, the climb his body. The Monitor shoots with his laser on the little-sized Flood, killing the Marine and the little-sized Flood. The other Marine shouts:

-DEREK! NO!

He runs to the dead Marine and cries on his body. Chief shoots the Monitor with his shotgun and say:  
-Don't ever do this again.

-It's not my fault, it is my protocol.

-YOUR PROTOCOL KILLED MY FRIEND! –says the Marine

-I apologize, but I had to shoot him, I can't just ignore my protocols.

They reach the fifth floor and Chief says:

-Everyone is coming.

Chief, the Monitor and the Marine run through the hall and in the ending of it, they see a normal Hunter, next to the lever. They look behind and see lots of infected Flood. The Marine say:

-We're doomed! We're doomed!

Suddenly, the Sentinels appear and start helping them with the Flood. Chief say to the Marine:

-Do you have ammo?

-Yes, Sir!

-Distract the Hunter while I open our way out of here.

-Sir, yes Sir!

The Marine starts shooting the Hunter, making him pay attention on the Marine. Chief plants a grenade on the Hunter's back and throw him on the ground. The Hunter blows up, opening a hole in this floor. Chief and the Marine jump on this hole and get to the sixth floor. Chief pulls the lever of the sixth floor down and hears a noise. They both look back and they see a different kind of infected. Chief sees something on that infected form that scares him. He realizes that it is an infected Spartan. He sees Locki's helmet on this infected Flood. This infected Spartan jumps towards the Marine and it starts strangling the Marine. Chief shoots the infected Spartan, but its armor helps him to get protected from Chief's bullets. The infected Spartan kills the Marine and after killing him, the infected goes straight to Chief. Suddenly, the Sentinels starts shooting the infected Spartan, slowing him down. Chief runs to the elevator area in the sixth floor and ignore the infected Spartan, which is fighting the Sentinels. Chief goes to the seventh floor with the elevator and he sees the Index. The Index is floating on a big circle with a giant hole in it. Chief can't reach it. So he grabs a rope and throw on the Index. He pulls the Index to next to him. Chief grabs the Index, but he is attacked in the back by the infected Spartan. Chief almost falls in the giant hole where the Index was. Chief pokes the infected Spartan, which falls in the ground. He tries to run through the infected Spartan, but the Spartan grabs Chief's leg, making him fall. The infected Spartan climbs on top of Chief and starts struggling him. He quickly grabs the Index and stab the infected Spartan's head. The infected Spartans stops struggling him and fall in the ground, dead. Chief stands up see the Monitor and say:  
-Get us out of here with you teleportation!

-I can't do it here. But I can do it outside the Library.

Waves of Flood starts coming all the way, Chief and the Monitor run to the elevator as fast as they can. They start going up. Suddenly, Chief is attacked by an infected Marine. He uses his last bullet to kill it. They go all the way up to the Library entrance. They get out of there and go back to the swamp. Chief says:

-Let's go, take us out of here!

Waves of infected Flood shows up and start running to kill Chief. The Monitor says:

-Wait a minute…

-We don't have a minute!

The Flood gets really close to Chief and they are about to attack him. The Monitor:

-Got it! Let's go!

The Monitor immediately teleports him and Chief out of that swamp.


	7. Chapter 7- Spartan

Chapter 7- Spartan

The Monitor teleports Chief next to the control room. Chief sees a dead human body, there is a rocket launcher and a battle rifle next to this body. He grabs those weapons while the Monitor opens the control room's door. The Monitor opens it and they enter the control room. Chief walks through the room, there are two doors, one in front of the panel and other behind Chief. He inserts the Index and wait for the system to respond. The system says:

"Activation Key and Index inserted on the system. Activate it"

Chief was going to press the button to activate when he hears Cortana shout:

-NO! DON'T DO THIS!

-Why not? – asks Chief.

-The Halo is not what you think it is.

-Isn't it a weapon to kill the Flood?

-No, Chief. The Halo will kill…us.

-What do you mean with that?

-The Halo was designed to kill what the Flood can eat, that means us, the Covenant, everyone.

-Monitor…is she talking the truth?

-Yes, the only way we can kill the Flood is by making him starve to death.

-So…I won't press that button, I'm not going to activate the Halo. I'm sorry Monitor, but I won't do it.

The Monitor eyeball turns red and he shoots laser on Chief's chest, making him fall on the ground. Cortana shouts:

-NO!

-Unacceptable! Unacceptable! A Constructor on the Halo's Control System! Unacceptable! – says the Monitor

-YOU MONSTER! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?

-I thought that the Reclaimer was manipulable, like the others that look like him.

-What do you mean by that?

-There was other people like him, but they were easily manipulable, so they brought me the Activation Key and I rewarded them with weapons. They went all the way to this blue and green planet, only to get the Activation Key.

-Group C… - says Chief

-Chief, are you alright?

-Yeah, I'm fine. So you manipulated them to follow your plan, you are a monster, you know that?

-Monster? No, I'm far away from that. I just follow my protocols.

-Which protocol says that you can manipulate other people to do as you say?

-Protocol 29: Use every means possible to activate the Halo.

Chief stands up and say:

-You told me that there could only be one Reclaimer.

-And there is only one, you.

-What about Group C, the other ones.

-They aren't Reclaimers. They brought the Activation Key to me. The Reclaimer is the one that activates the Halo. The protocols don't let me have 2 or more Reclaimers.

Chief puts the Rocket Launcher in his hands and aim in the Monitor. He says:

-Do you know what my protocol number one says?

-What? – asks both the Monitor and Cortana

-It says that I must kill every annoying robot I see.

When Chief is going to pull the trigger, the door behinds him opens. From that door comes 4 Spartans: Sam, Diana, Jackson and Nova. Chief accidentally shoots Nova with his rocket launcher, blowing him up. Diana shouts a loud "NO" and starts crying over what's left of Nova's body. Sam says:

-You are dead, Master Chief. Give us the Index and we will make your death quick.

-The Index was already inserted on the system. – says the Monitor

-CHIEF! I've got the Index! Let's get out here, now! – says Cortana

-WHAT? NO! – shouts the Monitor

Chief quickly connects Cortana to his armor. Everyone from the Group C tries to shoot Chief, but they miss all the shots. Chief and Cortana run away from the control room by the door that was in front of them. The Monitor says:

-What are you waiting for? He is running away! Kill the Reclaimer and get the constructor.

-Sir, yes Sir! – says Sam

Chief gets out of the control room and run away from the Forerunner structure. He runs a little bit more and gets surrounded by Covenant troops, which shout:  
-Demon! You are outnumbered! Surrender or die!

-Chief, you now that we can't die, or Group C will have the Index.

Chief puts his gun down and puts his hands in the air and say:

-I surren-

Suddenly, three Warthogs appears and starts shooting the Covenant troops. Chief grab his weapon and help them to kill the rest of the Covenant troops. When the rest of the Covenant troops are dead, Chief gets closer to the Warthogs and see Johnson driving one of them. Johnson says:

-Hey surrender boy. Want a ride?

-You finally got the right Warthog. I was sick of transport Warthogs.

-Get aboard, on the gunner's seat, you'll be useful.

Chief gets on the gunner's seat and see Group C coming with Ghosts. Chief says to Johnson:

-Johnson, its Group C over there! Let's get out of here.

-I'm working on it!

Johnson and the rest of the Marines get out of there with the Warthogs, but they are pursued by Group C. Diana, on her ghost, shoots one of the Warthogs until it blows up. Chief starts shooting her ghost, but she keeps dodging the bullets. Cortana asks Johnson:

-Why didn't you bring the pelican?

-We didn't wanted to risk our only way out of here.

-Where did you find those Warthogs?

-I found them on an abandoned pelican. The Warthogs were working, but the pelican wasn't.

Chief keeps trying to shoot Diana, but she keeps dodging. Jackson gets his ghost next to Chief's Warthog. Jackson hits the Warthog with his ghost and grab Chief's leg. Diana starts shooting Johnson's Warthog. The other Warthog helps Chief by shooting Jackson's ghost. Chief kicks Jackson's head. Chief go back to the gunner's seat and shoots Jackson's ghost. Sam starts getting his ghost next to Chief's Warthog. Both Chief and the other Warthog's gunner shoot Jackson's ghost until it blows up. Diana looks to Jackson's dead body in the destroyed ghost and gets really angry. She just jumps on Chief's Warthog and starts fighting hand-to-hand against him. She punches Chief in the face and kick his chest. He holds himself and gives a hook on Diana, making her almost fall off the Warthog. Diana pokes Chief in the face and also kicks him in the face. Chief punches her face and plant a plasma grenade on her chest. Chief grabs her and throw her at Sam's ghost. She blows up, destroying Sam's ghost. Chief feels relieved. Johnson says:

-That was a big fight back there. At least we got rid of those idiots. This can't get any worse.

Suddenly waves of Flood starts showing up and attacking the Warthogs. Johnson says:

-Did I really needed to say that?

Chief starts shooting all the Flood he can. An infected Elite grabs Johnson's arm, making him lose control of the Warthog. Johnson's Warthog goes to an alternative route. Johnson punches the infected Elite, which falls in the ground. Johnson start talking to the other Warthog through radio:

-Chips, one of those ugly things made us change our course to the pelican. Don't panic, we will find another way to it, just keep going and we meet there.

-Sir, yes Sir! If I'm going to die today, it won't be those bastards that are going to do it.

-That's how it talks, Marine. Johnson, over.

They see a tunnel and they enter in it. Cortana comments about this tunnel:

-This tunnel is also Forerunner…but it seems that something is wrong with, something is different with it.

Suddenly, an Elite jumps in the gunner's seat of the Warthog and starts fighting against Chief. The Elite kicks Chief's right knee and punch his chest. Chief kicks the Elite's chest, making him fall from the Warthog. They go through the tunnel and in the ending of it, they find a Covenant ambush. The Covenant ambush is fighting waves of Flood, but some of them take their time to shoot Johnson's Warthog. A Hunter shoots Johnson's Warthog, making it turn upside down. Chief starts shooting this hunter, calling his attention, while Johnson and the Marine get out of the Warthog. The Hunter punches Chief, making him fall on the snow. When the Hunter is about to kill Chief, his back blows up, making him fall on top of Chief. Johnson looks to Chief and says:

-You owe me one.

Chief push the Hunter, stands up and untap the Warthog. An Elite with an energy sword punches Johnson, that fall on the ground. Quickly, Chief runs and shoot in the Elite's head, killing him. Johnson stands up and Chief says:

-We are even now.

-Sure as hell we are.

Chief grabs the Elite's energy sword and go to the gunner's seat, Johnson go to the driving seat and the Marine goes on the passenger's seat. They get out of the Covenant ambush but an Elite gets aboard on the gunner's seat of the Warthog. The Elite grabs his energy sword. Chief grabs his energy sword and waits to the Elite do something. The Elite tries to stab Chief that quickly block and kick the Elite's waist. The Elite shouts and tries to stab Chief's neck, but Chief blocks it. Chief cuts the Elite's right arm, stab his chest and kick him out of the Warthog. The Warthog start getting out of snow plains and green trees start appearing. Everything is calm now, no Flood and no Covenant. Johnson says:

-We're almost there, the pelican is not far from here.

-Cortana stablish contact with SS Normandy, tell them to pick us up. – says Chief

\- I can't.

-Why you can't?

-There's no signal here, I can't contact anyone outside this ring. Something is blocking my signal!

They finally get to the pelican and see the other Warthog. They get out of the Warthog and enter inside the pelican. The crew of the other Warthog were waiting for Johnson and his crew, in the pelican. Chips Dubbo sees them and say:

-Finally you got here! We were waiting for you! Was it calm on the other way?

-Hell it wasn't! We passed through a Covenant ambush, they almost destroyed our Warthog. If wasn't for Chief, we wouldn't be here. – says Johnson

-Hey Chips, can I ask you something?

-Sure. What do you need?

-I just want to know, why was there a hornet inside the pelican?

-This is a cargo pelican, there were supplies, weapons and a hornet.

-Ok, I just wanted to know that.

Johnson starts the pelican running and say:

-Ladies, put your belts on, because we are getting the hell out of here.

-Hoorah!

Elsewhere, Sam's body lies on the ground. He stands up and look the dead bodies of his friends. He kneels and starts crying. The Monitor gets closer to him and says:

-Let's go! We must retrieve the constructor and activate the Halo.

-They have already won. They must be out of the Halo by now. I failed with you, master. I failed with my team.

-You can avenge them.

-What do you mean, master?

-Kill the Reclaimer, get the constructor, activate the Halo and you will redeem.

-You're right. I'll kill that bloody bastard and everyone that he loves. I'll redeem myself with you and with my team…but they are out of the ring by now, there is no time to reach them.

-I can't teleport you out of this ring, but I can teleport you to a vehicle.

-Let's go, master.

The Monitor teleports Sam and himself to an abandoned phantom. Sam gets aboard on this phantom and starts flying.

Elsewhere, Johnson's pelican is far away from the Halo, Johnson asks:

-So…where are we going?

-I can't establish contact with SS Normandy, with Earth or with any other human colony. – says Cortana

-Cortana, is there any planet nearby? Maybe we can make contact in a planet. – asks Chief

-There are some unexplored planets nearby, but I can't find any planet where we can make-

Cortana stops talking and Chief asks:

-Cortana, are you alright?

-Oh my god…it can't be possible!

-What is it?

-There is a planet where we can make contact. Johnson, I'll send you the coordinates.

Johnson see where the coordinates lead to, gets surprised and asks:

-Cortana…are you sure this is the only planet?

-Yes, I am.

-Cortana, say to me which planet it is! Which planet are we talking about? – asks Chief

-Reach.


	8. Chapter 8- What happened at Reach?

Chapter 8- What happened at Reach?

-Cortana…are you sure? Aren't there any other planets where you can make contact nearby?

-No, Chief. We have to go Reach

-Wait…wasn't Reach glassed? I saw on the news, "Reach glassed by the Covenant". If we go there, we will die! – says Chips Dubbo

-Reach wasn't glassed, that was a lie that UNSC told to everyone. Reach was taken and the Covenant benefited from the fauna and the flora of the planet. – says Chief

-So Reach is a Covenant colony now?

-Something like that.

-Sir, what really happened in there? – asks a Marine

-What happened in Reach? We all know what happened in Reach.

-Well, I used to believe that Reach was glassed by the Covenant. So there is clearly some things that I don't know about Reach. Tell us, what happened at Reach?

-That's a long story. It all starts in Earth in the year of 2552. Lord Hood was announcing the Spartans as the last hope of humanity:

It is a beautiful day on Earth, it is spring, and the trees are colorful. Lots of people are reunited next to a big stage. Those people are afraid, they need hope. After Harvest, they don't want to lose another planet. Lord Hood shows up in the stage, there is lot of different soldiers behind him, each of them in lines. Lord Hood check the microphone and starts talking:

-Ladies and gentleman, this is the Spartan Project, the front line warriors of our war. They are the strongest, fastest and they are the best ones. The Spartans will make the Covenant regret attacking us. Let me introduce you to the Spartan groups. There are three groups: Group A, Group B and Group C. Each one of them have their missions and their own quality level. Am I right, Spartans?

-Sir, yes Sir! – All the Spartans shouted.

-Group A, also known as Light Team, is led by the notorious Spartan: John-117 aka Master Chief. Group B, also known as Noble Team, is led by Carter-A259 aka Noble One. Group C, also known as Monitor Team, is led by S4-AA aka Sam. They will protect us in these dark times.

They were announced in all the human colonies, in each of them, they saw a different hopeless face. Group A was a family, Chief would die for them and the rest of the team would die for Chief. They were unstoppable, nothing could win them, they had the highest scores in the training sessions and they always had the best grades in logical tests.

One day, the three groups received the order to get aboard on a cruiser to Reach and expel the Covenant from there. They got aboard on a cruiser that was going to Reach, a cruiser called UNSC Forward unto Dawn. The cruiser made a slip-space jump to Reach, the Spartans waited for the call on an escape pod. Lord Hood sent a message to the three leader saying:

"Spartans, good luck on your mission, you can use the escape pod now."

Carter releases the escape pod and they pass through a battlefield of human cruisers and Covenant cruisers. They land on the middle of a battlefield. They get out of the escape pod already shooting the Covenant. Chief says:

-Group A we are going to the New Alexandria communication center. Group B go and check New Alexandria residential area. Group C go to the New Alexandria UNSC spaceport.

-Sir, yes Sir! – says Sam and Carter

Chief and his group run through the battlefield. An Elite throws Chief in the ground and starts punching him. Linda, a Spartan from Chief's group, shoot the Elite in the head with a shotgun. There is a Needler Covenant turret, Linda starts using this turret and killing every Covenant on Group A's way. They keep running and shooting. They finally get to a calm place, is in the way to the communication center, it is a trail with trees around it. All the Spartans are tired, so they decided to rest in the middle of the trail. Chief starts talking to Linda:

-Thank you for what you have done back there. If wasn't for you, I would be dead by now.

-A family protect each other, you protected me all this years, and this was just my retribution.

-I remember when we were teenagers, that the Insurrectionists stormed our training. You and the rest of the team were afraid, but I wasn't. Together, we fought against them and reached the ending of the training.

-I remember when I was way younger than you, and I had a bad dream. Scared, I ran to your room and asked if I could sleep next to you. I thought that if I slept next to you, no one could hurt me, because you would protect me.

-I remember…let's get some rest, tomorrow it's going to be a big day.

-You're right, let's get some sleep.

Both them sleep, looking to the battle in the sky. In the next day, they wake up with the sound of plasma grenades. They quickly grab their weapons and aim to the place where they heard the sound. They see suicidal Grunts coming in their way. Instead of shooting them, they run away from them, saving ammo. They run through the trail and get to the communication center. The communication center is destroyed, there are bodies lying in the ground. They go inside the communication center and they see a men sitting next to a map. Chief gets close to him and ask:

-Sir, what happened in here?

The man opened his eyes, which are black. He breathe with his mouth, which is bleeding. He says with a weepy voice:

-They…attacked us…we had…no chance.

-The Covenant attacked you?

-Yes. Take…her.

-Take who?

-Cortana…take her…to the…Pillar of…Autumn.

-I'll do it.

-Thank…you. Don't…let…her fall…in…wrong hands.

The man points to the place where Cortana is. He stops breathing and die. Chief goes next to where the man was pointing and see Cortana. Chief asks her:

-Are you Cortana?

-Yes, Sir

-We are taking you out of here.

-It was about time, thank god that the Covenant just ignored me.

Chief connects her to his armor and she says:

-Your architecture isn't that different from the one here at the communication center.

-Cortana, give us the localization of the Pillar of Autumn.

-There is a Warthog next to this communication center. Find it and I'll guide you to the Pillar of Autumn. Group A get out of the communication center and find this Warthog hidden behind the bushes. It is a transport Warthog. Linda says:

-Oh god. I hate transport Warthogs. Who had this awful idea?

Chief looks to her and say:

-I hate transport Warthogs too.

Chief turn around and sit on the driver's seat of the Warthog. He start the Warthog running and asks to Cortana:

-So, where should we go?

-You might go to that trail over there.

Chief looks and is the same trail where they came from. He says:

-But…that is the same way from where we came.

-Just go.

They go all the way back to the battlefield and the battle is still on. They get in the ending of the human area and Cortana says:

-Do you know the way to the New Alexandria spaceport?

-Yes, I know.

-Why didn't you told me already? We are going there!

-You could have told me that we were going there.

-I thought that this was pretty obvious.

-Well, we can meet with Group C there. – says Linda

-You're right Linda. Maybe they can help killing the Covenant. I'll contact the other groups.

Chief start calling Group B:

-Noble Team, do you respond?

-Master Chief, Sir! Residential area is totally evacuated, I repeat, the city has been evacuated.

-Good job, Noble Team. Go to the UNSC New Alexandria base and get some ammo.

-Sir, yes Sir.

Chief starts calling Group C:  
-Monitor Team, do you respond? Monitor Team, do you respond? Group C, can you hear me? Do anyone copy?

Chief stops calling them and he says:

-Strange…Group C won't answer, maybe there is some big trouble at the spaceport.

-Maybe they are dead. – says Linda

-They aren't dead.

They near the spaceport and they see lots of Covenant over there. Linda sees a different type of Elite, he is wearing a golden armor and he is holding a purple energy sword. Linda, surprised, says:

-Oh god, that can't be…

-What is it? – asks Chief

-It's an Arbiter!

-An Arbiter? Are you sure?

-I'm pretty sure that the Elite in the golden armor is an Arbiter.

-Yeah, it looks like that Sam and his crew got themselves in trouble. – says one of the Spartans

They go nearer to the battle with the Warthog, but suddenly, the Warthog crashes. They go on foot and start shooting the Covenant troops. The Arbiter go for Linda, Chief is attacked by an Elite. The Elite throws Chief on the ground and he pulls his energy sword out of his back. He points to Chief's neck and say:

-You and your demon horde will fail, and where you have failed, the Covenant will succeed.

Chief kneed the Elite's belly and punched his face right next. The Elite flew away from Chief, but his sword fell next to Chief. He grabbed the energy sword and finished with the Elite. He looks behind him and see the Arbiter punching Linda's face, making her fall in the ground. The Arbiter pulls his purple energy sword and raise it up. Chief runs as fast as he can and stab the Arbiter's back. The Arbiter gasps, drop his sword and fall on top of Linda. She pushes his body away, Chief says:

-Take my hand, let's go.

Linda holds Chief's hand and stands up. Both of them run to the spaceport entrance, where there is a human turret. Linda starts shooting with this turret, Chief runs to through a big hall that leads to the Pillar of Autumn. Chief look at Linda and say:

-Linda, let's go!

-Oh no!

A yellow energy sword stab her belly and raises her up. Chief looks at this and he drop his weapon in the ground, he can't see who done that to her. Chief turn around and starts running, like nothing matters. He sees the other Spartans being shot in the back by a yellow bullet. He pulls a grenade, pull its pin off and throw behind him, without looking back. He hears the noise of the explosion and he keeps running. He reaches the Pillar of Autumn and there is only 2 Spartans of his team alive. Chief gets close to the Pillar of Autumn's entrance door with another Spartan, and he says:

-I'm not leaving any of you!

-Goodbye, Sir.

The Spartan kicks Chief in the belly, making Chief fall inside the ship. The Spartan press the button to close the Pillar of Autumn's entrance door. Chief is a little dizzy, but he sees this Spartan taking a shot in the head and falling in the ground, while the door closes. When the door is fully closed, Chief starts punching the door, shouting:

-OPEN IT! OPEN IT!

Chief gets out of balance and fall on the ground when the cruiser starts flying. Chief keeps lying on the ground, until Cortana says:

-Take me to the Captain. His name is Jacob Keyes.

Chief stands up and slowly walks through the cruiser, until he gets to the control room, where he finds Captain Keyes giving orders. Keyes sees Chief and say:

-Is she alright?

-Yes, she is.

-Great, thank you, Master Chief.

Chief connects Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn's system and Keyes say:

-Get some rest, I'm sure that you had a tough day. Mendoza, take Chief to the Cryo 2.

-Sir, yes sir! – says Mendoza

-Wake me, when you need me.

Chief walks through the cruiser and go to Cryo 2. He enter his cryogenic pod and starts sleeping on it.

Back on Johnson's pelican, all the Marines are surprised and some of them thrilled by the story. Johnson looks to Dubbo and he sees him crying. Johnson asks laughing:

-Chips, are you crying?

-Sir, no Sir. I'm having an issue with my eyes.

-You are crying, Chips!

-No, I'm not!

-Admit it, you're crying.

-Ok…I'm crying.

-Ha! I knew it.

Chief realizes something and he says to Johnson:

-Johnson, remember where the experimental labs are?

-No, but I remember where the farming station was.

-Land there.

-Why?

-Because I'm saying to you to land there.

-Chief, what the hell are you going to do.

-Finish this fight.


	9. Chapter 9- The End

Chapter 9- The End

Johnson lands on the farming station and he says:

-Chief, what the hell are WE going to do?

-I'm going to the experimental labs and activate the Reach's destruction ray. I'm going to destroy the Halo once for all.

-Didn't the Covenant messed with this destruction ray?

-They don't know the password that it needs to use it.

-And you, do you know the password?

-I don't know, but Cortana does.

-While Chief destroys the Halo I can call SS Normandy. – says Cortana

-Ok, I'm convinced. Ladies, follow Mr. Chief and let's kick some Covenant ass.

The farming station is green, everything is colorful and the trees are shaking with the wind. They grab some ammo to their guns and they get out of the pelican. Cortana sees all the green and says:  
-I'm impressed. The Covenant didn't touch a thing.

Chief sees the skulls of human bodies all over the place and he says:

-They really didn't touch a thing.

-Why the Covenant didn't just removed the human skulls?

-Maybe they think we are contagious. – says Johnson

They start exploring the farming station when Johnson finds something and shout:

-Hey, look what I found over here. It's a Warthog, which will get us faster to the experimental labs.

-It will, but does it have space for everyone?

-I hate to say that to you, Chief. It is a transport Warthog.

-Let me go driving at least.

When Chief is going to seat on the driver's seat he sees something behind the Warthog. He goes check what it is. After seeing what's behind the Warthog, he says to Johnson:  
-You can drive the Warthog.

Johnson sees a Scorpion behind the Warthog. He laughs a little bit and say:

-It looks like that today is your lucky day.

Chief goes alone on the Scorpion and get out of the farming station. Chief talks to Johnson:

-Johnson, can you hear me?

-Loud and clear, Chief.

-I'll go first and you follow me, alright Johnson?

-My vehicle is faster, why are you going first?

-Because your vehicle is faster than mine.

-Oh…now I got it.

Chief follow the trail and he ends up on a city called Lavender. It is a big city, with a lot of big buildings. Chief see two Wraiths making a daily round on the city. He shoots one of the Wraiths, blowing it up. The second Wraith shoots Chief's Scorpion, but it makes little effect on the tank. Chief tries to shoot the Wraith, but it dodges the tank's shot. The Wraith accelerates and starts going directly to Chief's tank. When the Wraith is about to hit Chief's tank, he shoots in the Wraith, making it blow up in front of him. Chief keep going front, but enemies start coming from both sides. Johnson's Warthog starts taking care of those enemies. Suddenly, Chief is stopped by five Hunters, which start shooting Chief's tank and cause extreme damage to it, almost destroying it. Chief shoots the Hunters, but two Hunters survive. Those Hunters aim to Chief's tank, but Johnson run over on one of the Hunters and Johnson's Marines shoot the other Hunter to death. Johnson says Chief:

-We just started the trip and your car already broke? That's bad luck.

-Didn't you just said that today is my luck day?

-I said "It looks like". I didn't say that today you are certainly going to have lucky day.

Suddenly, a group of Banshees attack Johnson's Warthog, making it turn upside down. Chief shoot the Banshees, while all the Marines tries to untap the Warthog. The Marines untap the Warthog, doing a big effort to do it, and they keep going with their trip. Chief sees five Wraiths in his way, but the Marines are close to the experimental labs. Chief shoots one of them, blowing it up. The other four tries to shoot Chief's tank, one of the shots hit his tank, but the dodges the other ones. He shoots another Wraith, but it doesn't blow up. All the Wraiths shoot Chief's tank and all the shots hit the tank. When the Scorpion is about to explode, Chief gets out of it and run away. Johnson looks to Chief and say:

-Son, are you alright?

-Yes, Sir. We need to take those Wraiths down. Take down the damaged Wraith, I'll take the other ones.

-Usually, I would say "Good luck". But you proved that you don't need luck. You already are a lucky bastard.

Johnson starts driving to the damaged Wraith, but the Marines starts shooting before they reach the Wraith. Chief throws a plasma grenade in one of the Wraiths, blowing it up. Chief quickly jumps on the next Wraith and he pulls off the driver's seat hatch. After he pulls off the Wraith's hatch, he throws a frag inside and blows up the Wraith. The last Wraith accelerates and hits Chief, which fall on the ground and faints. An Elite gets out from the Wraith's hatch and walks towards Chief. Johnson gets out of the Warthog and run to punch the Elite's face. The Elite sees Johnson coming from far away. When Johnson gets near the Elite, the Elite starts choking him and raise him up. Johnson's tobacco falls on the ground and he says with anger:

-You…made my…tobacco…fall…on the…ground!

-Too bad for you. –replies the Elite

Johnson stealthily pulls out his pistol and says:

-No. Too bad for YOU!

Johnson points the gun to the Elite's head and shoot his head, killing him. The Elite's body fall on the ground and Johnson runs to Chief's body. Chief slowly stands up, when Johnson gets near to him, Johnson says:

-Need a ride?

-Sure, thanks.

-You owe me a tobacco, you know that right?

Chief goes on the passenger's seat on Johnson's Warthog. They drive for a while, without having any enemy contact. Suddenly, something big falls from the sky and hit the ground in front of Johnson's Warthog. When Johnson looks to see what it is, he gets surprised and say:

-What the hell is this?

-This a Scarab V2. –says Cortana

-I fought one of those before. Johnson, distract the Scarab while I take him down. –says Chief

-Alright…

Chief gets out of the passenger's seat and starts climbing one of the Scarab's leg. When he gets to the top, he sees 3 Elites waiting for Chief to climb the Scarab. He pulls his shotgun out, the Elites look to Chief and 2 of them pull their energy swords. The one that didn't pull his energy sword out is an armored Elite, which pulls out two plasma rifles and start flying with his jetpack. One of the Elites tries to stab Chief, but Chief shoots the Elite's head, killing him. The other Elite punches Chief, making him drop his weapon. The Elite tries to cut Chief's head off, but Chief quickly dodges and grab his shotgun. The Elite grab Chief's neck and raise him up, choking him. Chief shoots on the Elite's chest, but that does not kill him. The Elite drops Chief and fall on the Scarab's ground. Chief don't let the Elite stand up and shoot in his head, killing him. The flying Elite starts shooting Chief, which run away from the Elite's shot. Chief run through the Scarab, until he gets to the Scarab's heart. He breaks the Scarab's heart shield and he is ready to destroy the heart, but the flying Elite appears and kick Chief away from the heart. While this, the Scarab shoots Johnson's Warthog, making it turn upside down. Johnson says with anger:

-Not again!

Chief stands up and throws a plasma grenade on the Elite, sticking it on the Elite's chest. The plasma grenade wasn't activated, the Elite laughs and say:  
-Foolish human. You almost did everything right.

Chief pulls his pistol out and says:

-I did everything right.

Chief shoots on the plasma grenade, which blows up and kills the Elite. While this, the Warthog is upside down and the Scarab is going to shoot on Johnson and the Marines. Johnson closes his eyes and say to the Marines:

-It was an honor serve alongside you men.

Chief shoots the heart of the Scarab and starts running away. The Scarab starts blowing up from the inside, Johnson opens his eyes and say:

-What the hell?

Chief jumps out of the Scarab, while Chief is in the air, the Scarab blows up behind him. All the Marines starts celebrating, Johnson gets near Chief and say:

-Thanks, if wasn't for your stubbornness, we would be dead.

Chief untap the Warthog and say to the Marines:  
-Don't celebrate, it's not over yet.

Johnson starts driving to the experimental labs, but this time, no one bother Chief and the Marines. Johnson asks:

-Why would someone hide a tank on a farming station?

-Tell me Johnson, if you were an Elite, where would be the last place you would expect to find a tank. –says Cortana

-Oh…know I understand.

When they are getting near to the experimental labs, they see a Phantom falling from the sky and he falls inside the experimental labs. Chief, Johnson and the Marines finally reach the experimental labs. Johnson looks behind him and he sees an army of Covenant coming to the experimental labs. Johnson looks to Chief and say:

-Chief! Do what you have to do, the Marines and I will cover you as much as we can.

-Alright. – says Chief

Johnson and the Marines stand in front of the front door, waiting for the Covenant to come. Chief runs to the destruction ray and he sees the Phantom inside the experimental labs. Chief gets in the room of the destruction ray and sees a panel. Cortana says:

-Chief, put me inside that panel!

-I can't!

-Oh no…there is no way to get me inside the panel, so we need to do this manually. Chief, first of all, turn on the ray.

Chief press the "ON" button on the panel. They hear a gear noise. Cortana says:

-Now, insert the coordinates.

Chief press number buttons, forming the coordinates that was given to him in the video recorder. Cortana says:

-Now the password is…

-What's the password, Cortana?

-Behind you!

Chief looks behind and an Elite is coming for him with an energy sword. Chief dodges the Elite attack and kick him right after. Chief pulls his shotgun and shoot the Elite's head, killing him. Chief grabs the Elite's energy sword and keep it for him. Chief asks again:  
-Cortana, tell me the password.

-The password is DEATH_STAR

Chief writes the password on the panel and wait for the ray to destroy the Halo. While this, Cortana contact SS Normandy:

-SS Normandy, this is Cortana, can you hear me?

-Cortana, this is Lord Hood, we can hear you. What's your position, over?

-I'm in Reach with Sergeant Johnson and Master Chief.

-Get a pelican and we will wait for you outside the planet.

-Understood, Cortana out.

Chief and Cortana see the destruction ray destroying the Halo. Some pieces of the Halo weren't destroyed by the ray. Cortana says:  
-The fact that we hate that place makes this destruction looks so beautiful.

-Cortana, focus. What do we have to do?

-We must get a pelican and get out of the planet, where Lord Hood will be waiting for us. Let's find the Marines and get out of here.

Chief runs to the front door, to find the Marines. When he gets there, the Marines are shooting the Covenant that is trying to get in the experimental labs. Next to Johnson and the Marines, he sees a familiar face. This familiar face pulls a yellow energy sword and he is ready to attack Johnson. Chief shouts:

-JOHNSON! LOOK OUT!

Johnson looks behind and this familiar face chops Johnson's left arm off. Johnson fall on the ground screaming in pain and he shout to the Marines:

-KEEP SHOOTING, DON'T LOOK AT ME. THE COVENANT IS YOUR BIGGEST PREOCUPATION RIGHT NOW!

Cortana says to Chief:  
-It's Sam!

Sam raises his sword up, ready to kill Johnson, but Chief interrupts saying:

-Your fight is with me, Sam. Kill me and have your revenge.

Chief pulls his energy sword out and stare Sam. Sam turn around, looks to Chief and say:

-I'm not only going to kill you, as I'm going to humiliate you.

-I'll give you the first attack. – says Chief

-Then be it.

Sam attacks Chief with his yellow energy sword, but Chief blocks it, making a lot of effort. Sam says:

-You think that you can defeat me? I'll kill you the same way I killed your team.

Sam tries to stab Chief's chest, but Chief dodges it and kick Sam's back. Sam stand up and try to cut Chief's head off, but Chief blocks it. Sam kicks Chief and punch him right after. Chief is a little bit dizzy, but he can fight. Chief tries to stab Sam's chest, but Sam blocks it with one arm, with the other he pokes Chief. Chief tries the same thing, but Sam blocks Chief attack, disarm him and kick his belly, making Chief fall on the ground. Sam shake his head and say:  
-Poor Chief, he can't avenge his team, he can't avenge his Spartan friend, he can't avenge his other friend and he can't avenge himself. I was going to save the universe, Chief.

-No, you were going to kill all of us.

-A necessary sacrifice. Now, I'll avenge my team. I'll kill you the same way I killed Linda.

Chief grabs his energy sword and attack Sam with anger, Sam blocks it, but gets surprised by Chief's attack. Chief stands up and duel with Sam. Sam tries to stab Chief's belly, but Chief blocks it with one hand and punch Sam with the other hand. Sam tries to chop Chief's head off, but Chief blocks it and kick Sam, which fall on the ground. Sam stands up and says:

-That's impossible! You are not going to defeat me!

Sam tries to stab Chief's chest, but Chief dodges it and chops Sam right arm off. Sam fall on knees, looking to his right arm, which he used the energy sword. Sam says to Chief:

-You will kneel for me one day! You are not getting away with this!

-I already have. – says Chief

Chief stabs Sam's chest and raise him up with the sword. Sam gasps, stop breathing and die. Chief turns off the energy sword, making Sam's body fall on the ground. Chief puts Johnson's body on his shoulder and Chief says to the Marines:

-Let's get out of here.

-Sir, yes Sir.

The Marines start walking forward, until they reach the Warthog. Chief sit on the driver's seat and he puts Johnson on the passenger's seat. The Warthog starts running and Chief starts driving through the city, going back from where they came. If any kind of Covenant step in front of the Warthog, Chief ran over him. The clouds are obfuscating the sun, it is starting to rain. Cortana says to Chief:

-Lord Hood is outside this planet! You just have to grab the pelican and Lord Hood will be waiting for us.

Chief look back and he sees an army of Elites following the Warthog. They finally get to the farming station, they don't have much time. Chief puts Johnson inside the pelican and help the Marines getting in the pelican. Chief enter inside the pelican, the door slowly starts opening. An army of Elites stop right in front of the pelican, instead of shooting, one of them brings a kind of harpoon. They shoot this harpoon on the door of the pelican. They can't get out of there, some Elites take out their explosives and the Elite with the harpoon starts pulling the pelican door down. Chief thinks for a while and when he is going to say something to Cortana, she interrupts and says:

-Goodbye, Chief.

-I'll see you again. I promise

-Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it.

Chief disconnects her from his armor and give the disk to Chips Dubbo. Chief hold Chips hand and say:

-Don't ever let her go.

-Alright, Sir. It was an honor.

Chief pulls his energy sword out and jump out of the pelican. He cuts the harpoon rope and start fighting against the Elites. Chips start seeing what is happening to Chief. He sees Chief killing Elites with his energy sword. The pelican door start closing slowly as they get away from Reach. As door is closing, Chips sees Chief being punched in the face and falling on the ground. Some Elites holds Chief's arms and legs. The Elite that punched Chief pulls out his sword, raises the sword and when he is going to finish Chief, the pelican door closes and Chips can't see what happened next. Johnson and some other Marines are doing their best to stop Johnson's arm from bleeding, Johnson look to Chips and he asks:

-Chips, since you aren't doing anything useful, can you grab my tobacco on my pocket.

Chips grabs the tobacco, puts it in Johnson's mouth and light up for him. Johnson asks with a sad face:

-What happened to that green stubborn?

-He is dead, Sir.

-Are you sure? Did you see with your eyes his death?

-No, Sir. But there is no way he could have escaped that situation.

-HA! Don't underestimate that lucky bastard!

-Some Elites were holding his arms and legs and the other was going to stab his chest, I just didn't see the rest.

-Well…I can't see an escape scenario. Wait a minute…why didn't you bastards helped him? Why didn't you asked the pilot to shoot the Elites.

-We could have done that, we didn't have this idea.

-Are you stupid or what?

-I'm not stupid, I just didn't think about this idea.

-Son, if you aren't stupid, then I'm pretty sure that you are a psychopath.

-Sir, just shut up.

The pilot sees the SS Normandy, waiting outside the planet. He flies to the cruiser and he land on the hangar, where there are lots of Marines applauding. The pelican door opens and Lord Hood is waiting for them. Johnson shouts:

-I need medical assistance, right now!

Lord Hood call some medics that help Johnson. The last one that gets out of the pelican is Chips Dubbo, which delivers a disk to Lord Hood. Lord Hood asks:

-What is this?

-It is Cortana

-Where is Chief?

-He fulfilled his mission

-Oh god…what a big loss. When we get to Earth, we will honor his name. Go get some rest.

-Sir, yes sir.

Lord Hood walks to the control room, insert Cortana in the system and say to her:

-Cortana, take us to Earth

-I'm on my way, Sir.

 **2 Weeks Later**

A lot of people are sitting in the chair, it is a cloudy day in Earth, and the funeral of the Spartan John-117 is being broadcasted all over the world. The funeral band starts playing a song called "Never Forget-midnight version". Lord Hood stands in front of the empty coffin and start his speech:

-It was an honor to serve alongside Master Chief, he was more than a soldier. He saved not only us, as he saved the whole galaxy from extinction. Most of you people don't even know who he is and some does not remember who he is. He had strength, agility, intelligence and hope, but most of all, he had a heart. He sacrificed himself to save some soldiers from dying in the hands of the Covenant…

Elsewhere, a hooded man gets close to a place called "New Alexandria Spaceport". This man takes his hood off and it is Master Chief. He sees all the skulls of the dead Marines during the fall of Reach. The Covenant didn't touch in the human bodies.

-…After Reach, we thought that Chief would be a spiteful man, but he didn't become a spiteful man. Instead, Chief became a man that don't usually express his feelings, but you could see behind that mask, what he was feeling. When I first saw him training, I knew he would be one of the bests Spartans of all. The thing that I want you people from all the world to understand is that he is not dead. Do you people know why? Because…

Chief gets near the place where his team died, he sees the bodies of everyone from his team. But there is one body missing, the body of Linda. Chief gets near to the place that she died and don't see anything, not even bones. Chief gets surprised and he say to himself:  
-She…she is alive!

Chief turns around and start running forward. He runs away from the spaceport.

The people in the funeral are almost crying, Johnson is almost crying, but he holds his tears. The funeral band finishes the song and listen to last words of Lord Hood. Lord Hood make a low and emotional laugh and he says:

-…Because Spartans never die.

The End.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading, please leave your review and tell me what I should do better. I'm working on a sequel to this story. I really appreciate that you read my story until the end.**


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